Synagogue marks its move with ritual trek

Sunday

Sep 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMSep 30, 2007 at 9:43 AM

The sign out front of Beth Messiah Congregation yesterday morning already read "Moved to 4950 Morse Road." The trucks came and went last Sunday, courtesy of a member's son who owns a small moving company.

The sign out front of Beth Messiah Congregation yesterday morning already read "Moved to 4950 Morse Road." The trucks came and went last Sunday, courtesy of a member's son who owns a small moving company.

Yet more than 100 members of the messianic synagogue, which has made its home on N. Hamilton Road the past eight years, gathered at the site for the last -- and most important -- bit of business.

"Moving the Torah scrolls is the very last thing," explained congregational leader Howard Silverman. "We are officially moved once they are removed from the premises."

Silverman said it is Jewish tradition to walk the scrolls to a new synagogue.

The Beth Messiah Congregation practices Jewish customs, but also believes Jesus is the Messiah.

Its membership, according to Silverman, totals about 120 -- a "community of Jewish and gentile people."

Most of that community was on hand just after 9 a.m. yesterday when the walk began with the sounding of the shofar, a ram's horn.

The procession continued out onto N. Hamilton Road before heading east along Morse Road.

The new home of Beth Messiah Congregation is on the site of the former First Korean Church of Columbus, less than a mile from the old site.

"The facilities became inadequate for our ministries," said associate congregational leader Elliot Klayman of New Albany. "We were bursting at the seams."

Although short, the walk was nonetheless meaningful for members, who clapped, sang and took turns carrying the scrolls.

It not only coincided with the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day Jewish holiday also known as Sukkot, but it meant leaving the only permanent home the congregation has known since it was founded in Columbus in 1977.

"For years, we'd meet in a community room or a shopping center or a house," Silverman said. "We've experienced a lot of things in this building -- births, deaths, life-cycle events. In that sense, (leaving) is bittersweet."

Member Dinah Ely drove 30 minutes from her home in Marengo to take part in the walk as well as the Feast of Tabernacles celebration that followed outside the Morse Road building.

Her five children -- ages 15 months to 8 years -- came dressed in colorful, sparkling vests.

"A congregational member made these for the children for a Hanukkah celebration," said Ely, whose mother also is a Messianic believer. "They wanted to dress up, so we brought the vests out."

Some are still becoming acquainted with the congregation's traditions.

"I'm learning the songs," said Edwin Burson, a Pickerington resident who grew up Methodist and joined Beth Messiah in 2004.

"I have about three or four that I have a handle on right now."

nchordas@dispatch.com

"Moving the Torah scrolls is the very last thing. We are officially moved once they are removed from the premises."